Re: Predict who will win the 2013 head-to-head between Sharapova and Azarenka

I think it depends of the number of time they'd face eachothers but I'd give a slight advantage to Sharapova, something like 2-1 or 3-2 if they play more often than that then I'd go with Sharapova with a bigger margin. Sharapova is having the edge on Vika more and more now...She won it on clay and on indoor court. She managed to make tight matches on hard court too. This will give her confidence to continue on proper hard court next season.

Going to the AO, Serena will have a lead of 1,000+ points over Azarenka and almost 1,000 points over Sharapova in safe points. The later 2 also have lots of points to defend in the first half of the season, so if Serena plays a normal schedule, she is likely to be ranked ahead of both of them till Wimbledon. That means Aza and Maria could meet in the SF, instead of only in the finals.

I would say that Vika would be a favourite against Maria in Australian Open, Indian Wells, US Open and Beijing if they meet again in 2013. But who know if they have that many head to head games next year.

Re: Predict who will win the 2013 head-to-head between Sharapova and Azarenka

It won't be easy, but Vika needs to rethink her game. She needs to be a little more aggressive from the baseline, but even then Masha is real powerful. Perhaps a few more droppers to keep Maria honest.

Masha 3-2.

Both in great shape so should meet each other at least 10 more times throughout their respective careers.

They both play every point so tough that it's hard to see either blowing away a H2H 3-0 or something.

You go on and on about Maria fans being "pressed" when it comes to Vika and then you go on and post shit like this. Give me a break.

Some of them are, you have to be blind not to see that . We all know who they are too. And they're not only pressed about Vika, about Serena, sometimes Aga too. Pick some random threads here preferably with the name Serena or Vika in it and you can enjoy them all.

Re: Predict who will win the 2013 head-to-head between Sharapova and Azarenka

It'll be close. Like a 4-3 edge. However I'm not sure who would pull out the winning record. Based on their overall head-to-head, I'd give the nod to Vika but you cannot count Maria out. But it's certainly nice that we have a rivalry again.

Orrr, maybe, just maybe, the thread was created because I genuinely want to discuss the most interesting rivalry on the WTA right now. Or are you guys seeing what you want to see again like in the "where does Serena go from here", where you genuinely all believed that I'd written Serena was washed-up and that the thread was an "epic fail" even though nothing I wrote in it was disproven

Kindly don't post in this thread again unless you have something to contribute other than lame GIFs and/or failed attempts at burns.

This. Vika fans have no need to start a thread like this, we know already, our only problem is Serena. Just as a reminder and note that Exordes left out the not unimportant AO 2012:

You're generally not one to exaggerate for the sake of trash-talking (from what I've seen of you), so I can only think you must genuinely believe that Maria is no threat to Vika. But I just don't understand HOW you could think that. Their last 4 matches, Maria won 2 comfortably, while Vika won 1 comfortably and 1 in an epic 3-setter. Maria won 5 of the last 9 sets. There's nothing whatsoever to suggest that Vika is guaranteed to give her beatdown after beatdown in 2013

(and to be clear: I'm not saying Vika definitely won't dominate Maria, I'm just saying there's no grounds to claim it's NID and that EITHER player is no threat to the other).

You're generally not one to exaggerate for the sake of trash-talking (from what I've seen of you), so I can only think you must genuinely believe that Maria is no threat to Vika. But I just don't understand HOW you could think that. Their last 4 matches, Maria won 2 comfortably, while Vika won 1 comfortably and 1 in an epic 3-setter. Maria won 5 of the last 9 sets. There's nothing whatsoever to suggest that Vika is guaranteed to give her beatdown after beatdown in 2013

(and to be clear: I'm not saying Vika definitely won't dominate Maria, I'm just saying there's no grounds to claim it's NID and that EITHER player is no threat to the other).

I exaggerated a bit because it's downright impossible to answer intelligently to the dumb arguments some Masha fans bring to the table.

But yes, i certainly believe Vika will have the edge. There were 6 matches this year and Vika won the first 2 with very convincing scorelines. It got closer thereafter, Maria was much too strong in Stuttgart. Maybe Vika underestimated her there but based on that encounter alone i'd give Maria the edge on that surface. USO was close too, then again Vika was considerably stronger second and third set. Maria just couldn't hit through Vika anymore. YEC Vika was clearly very tired, imo she shouldn't have played Linz with such an important tournament coming up but i got the impression she was already happy to clinch #1 there. Underestimation and fatigue can be no excuses of course and there are undoubtedly excuses to be made for Maria as well on some of these occasions.

Apart from the numbers, 4-2 this year, it's the way their matches on HC go. I don't think Maria can keep up with the pace Vika put's in these rallies for 2 sets. Of course Maria has more power and can hit winners (and also errors) more easily than Vika but she needs some time to do that, on form Vika isn't giving her that time on HC. And HC's where most of the tournaments are played. Grass, i don't know. I thought Vika played a slightly better grass season than Maria but they didn't meet so it's unclear for now.

I'm surprised myself you give Masha the edge 5-2. She would have to be playing a lot better or Vika a lot worse in their H2H than this year for that to happen.

. I think she will actually. I certainly see them meeting some 6 times again next year.

Same here. I mean they met 6 times this year, and that's without them playing any US Open Series tourneys. They could meet up to 8 times next season if they maintain consistency and Serena doesn't destroy them repeatedly.